Agostino Pavia Grignolino d'Asti

Sustainable. Aromatic, bright, and deceptively light in color. Hand-harvested, destemmed and crushed. 5-6 maceration with frequent pumpovers and pressed off before fermentation is complete to limit tannin extraction. Aged in stainless steel.

One of the lesser known grape varietals from Piemonte - home, of course, to Barolo, Barbaresco, Barbera and Dolcetto - it's unfortunate that this traditional indigenous grape so often gets overlooked. But leave it to importer Oliver McCrum to find one, and to find a great one at that. Made by Pino Pavia from Agostino Pavia, a 50-year-old, small, family-run estate. McCrum describes it like this: "Misleadingly pale color, but a very distinctive and flavorful wine; wild strawberries, rhubarb, a touch of herbs, the perfect wine with salumi or pizza. I put it in the fridge for 20 minutes to bring out the fruit. Screwcap. (Pino says his older customers used to buy all of this traditional indigenous wine type, often in huge 'demijohns' to be bottled later at home.)"